Nadezhda Ease To Success At UE Sopron

Natalia Anoikina confidently stepped up in the absence of the injured Glory Johnson

Nadezhda responded to their EuroLeague Women loss to Fenerbahce last week by easing their way to a comfortable 70-52 Group B road win at Uniqa EuroLeasing Sopron.

The Russian side took some time to stamp their quality on the contest, but they gradually wore down their hosts to jump into the box-seat for the last 15 minutes and sail to victory.

Without Glory Johnson due to an injury, there was more work to be done inside and fortunately for head coach George Dikeoulakos, his center Natalia Anoikina was more than happy to pick up the slack.

She completed a fine night of work to corral an efficient 14 points and with DeWanna Bonner typically influential with 18 points to her name, Nadezhda had too much depth for Sopron and registered a sixth EuroLeague Women success in a row against Hungarian opposition.

It had looked like the team from Orenburg might get the job done early when they moved 29-20 in front, but the home team had other ideas and sparked a surge which resulted in Zsofia Fegyverneky levelling matters at 31.

The contest was still tied up at 39, but Nadezhda made their move and threw a defensive blanket over their opponents to hold them to a paltry 13 points during the last 16 minutes of the game.

Greek forward Zoi Dimitrakou offered the winning side a nice cameo with 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals, whilst Tianna Hawkins stood out in defeat with a creditable 15 points and 10 boards for Sopron.